COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PetroChina, part of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), for crude oil transportation and services, on December 23.
Under the deal, which is part of the country’s “Belt and Road” initiative, COSCO Energy will deploy its crude tankers to transport crude oil for the China-Myanmar oil pipeline project.
The port of Made Island in Myanmar will be the starting point for the project. It is a natural port that can dock 300,000-tonne and 150,000-ton tankers, the company said.
According to COSCO, countries along the Belt and Road are rich in oil and gas resources, as recoverable oil reserves account for 66% of the world’s total.
Energy cooperation is an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative. At present, 65 energy projects have been started along the line, of which 25 are oil and gas projects. This “provides a historic opportunity for China’s energy transport enterprises to follow the strategy of globalization,” said the shipping company.
